Police in Houston, Texas, did not see fit to investigate more than 4,000 cases of sexual assault submitted to them, their chief admitted Thursday.
Troy Finner announced on social media last week that he had learned that his police force had abandoned numerous investigations due to lack of personnel, a situation he described as unacceptable.
KPRC 2, an NBC affiliate in Houston, then revealed at the beginning of the week that according to the police union, some 2,000 cases had fallen into limbo.
However, this number represented only half of the cases, the police having turned their noses up on 4,017 cases, Chief Finner finally admitted at a press conference.
“It’s a dark day. In 34 years (of career), I have experienced a lot, we have been through a lot. I don’t just want to say it’s the darkest day, we’ve had worse ones. Okay, that’s another one. All the services, if we have been around for a long enough time, have had to go through different situations,” he declared during the conference.
The situation in Houston was considered aberrant by experts consulted by KPRC 2.
“This is the most disturbing thing I have heard in my entire career in law enforcement! “Not opening an investigation into cases of sexual assault is disastrous for the victims,” protested a former New York police chief.
